Indiana’s New Abortion Bill: ‘Emotional Terrorism’

Imagine going in for surgery, say you need stents placed in your arteries to ensure your heart continues to beat properly and your blood continues to flow properly throughout your body. Suddenly your surgeon tells you that first you must be “counseled” on how your poor diet and lifestyle are the reason you need the operation and how shameful it is for a grown person to let themselves get into this situation.

Afterwards, you will be required to watch a lengthy shaming video about diseased hearts and artery issues, complete with images of bloated dead people who have died from heart disease. At this point, there will be an 18-hour waiting period before you can legally have the surgery. State law mandates that you give a good reason for your surgical need, and if you give the “wrong” reason, you will be denied the procedure. If you give the correct answer and have the surgery, the law requires that any blood, tissue, fluids, etc. that may be taken from you during said operation must be placed in a casket and buried or be cremated.

You would be outraged! Since when does the government have the right to interfere with the private medical decisions of any individual and his or her physician! And why are you forced to give a reason why you want a procedure when it’s such an extreme state intrusion into your life, you stammer.

Is this likely? Of course not! It would be ridiculous. However the state of Indiana believes it has an absolute right to stick its nose into your medical business, at least if you’re female and seeking a safe, legal abortion.

Last week the Indiana state legislature passed HB 1337, an anti-abortion bill so restrictive that even some “pro-life” Republicans voted and spoke against it.

It would require any woman seeking an abortion to:

– Be counseled by a physician in a private setting to establish “informed consent.”

– Have an ultrasound at least eighteen hours prior to the procedure at the same time “informed consent” is given. She will also be allowed the “opportunity” to view the ultrasound images and hear the fetal heartbeat, although she cannot be forced to do so.

– Understand she will be required to dispose of the fetal remains by cremation or interment.

The bill requires that a written agreement exist between the doctor performing the abortion and a physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital in that county or a neighboring one in case complications arise, an agreement that must be renewed annually.

In addition HB 1337 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to “knowingly transport an aborted fetus” into, or out of, Indiana unless it was being taken for the purpose of interment or cremation.

Take that, Planned Parenthood, you “seller of baby parts,” you!

Of course, nothing says “small government” like another form. This one requires that the physician submit a new form to the state providing a wide variety of information including the name and age of the father “if known” and the post-fertilization age of the fetus and how that was determined. It also demands to know if the fetus has been diagnosed with or could have been diagnosed with a disability like Down’s Syndrome.

Indiana is only the second state to outlaw abortion for women carrying a fetus with a genetic abnormality or disability. It is likewise a criminal offense according to the bill to abort a fetus due to race or gender. Only North Dakota has done the same.

Will Indiana now step up and provide extensive funding for the care of disabled children and the special daily care and assistance they will require for the rest of their lives, as well as help with the burdensome medical bills associated with the treatment of physical and mental disabilities?

Of course not! The little slut should have thought about such things before she went and got herself knocked up!

In Indiana the only good way to spend taxpayer money is to fight endless legal battles over the constitutionality of the radical right-wing political and religious laws the legislature insists on passing and promoting, battles which they know upfront will be lost. It’s also okey-dokey to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on public relations to put glitter on the fecal matter than emanates from the state house and the governor’s mansion.

State Rep. Sean Eberhart (R- Shelby Co.) said “Today is a perfect example of a bunch of middle-aged guys sitting in this room making decisions about what we think is best for women. We need to quit pretending we know what’s best for women and their health care needs.” He claims that he is “as pro-life as they come.”

Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer (R-Beech Grove) said, “I feel this is government overreaching. We haven’t done a proper process to vet this. I feel that I’m determining whose life has more importance here.”

Governor Mike Pence pretends he hasn’t yet decided if he will sign the bill and will “give this legislation thoughtful consideration once it reaches his desk.”

Think so? He is one of the most consistently anti-choice governors who was one of the most consistently anti-choice U.S. Congressional representatives in the country. Is there really any question that he will sign it?

Not that it matters since any bill that is passed by the Indiana legislature automatically becomes law with or without the governor’s signature unless it is vetoed. There is absolutely zero chance that Pence will veto it.

Will it pass constitutional muster? Not a chance. The bill effectively bans all abortions except for rape, incest, and to save the life of the woman.

“The Supreme Court has consistently held that laws that ban abortion pre-viability are unconstitutional. Laws that ban abortion outright are unconstitutional. This would be a ban on abortions and therefore unconstitutional,” said Kelli Garcia of the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Yeah, we know, one dumb little podunk state in fly-over country passed this. Big deal. Think it can’t happen in your state? Type “abortion restrictions laws 2016” with your state’s name into any search engine and see what pops up. There’s a good chance you won’t like what you see.

Wonder why this is happening? You shouldn’t. The Republicans control the governorships and the entire legislatures in 23 states. The Democrats? Just seven. For all their blabbing on and on about being “small-government conservatives” and “getting big government out of our lives” they are more than happy to intrude on a woman facing one of the most difficult medical decisions she will ever have to make.

This is what happens when decent, thinking people fail to show up at the polls in non-presidential elections.

Indy Annie is the pen name of Myra Ann Rutledge, a native Hoosier, IU graduate, and writer/blogger who has lived all over the country, as well as overseas. She is currently working on her version of the Great American Novel, when she isn't opining and ranting on American News X and on her personal blog The Lizard Queen Universe.

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